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Aloha! It's Time For a Christmas Tiki Party"Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say, On a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day"The campy escapism that
is typical Tiki makes it ideal for a fun, casual party. Try
our four-step process to conjure up your own “island away
from home” this holiday season.
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Tiki culture is experiencing a resurgence in popularity with Gen Xers who missed it the first time around in the 1950s and 1960s, and with retro buffs interested in preserving cultural trends. The word tiki refers to the carved wooden heads created in Polynesia, which became emblematic of the Polynesian pop movement.
Around the same time, Victor Bergeron opened his first Polynesian-style restaurant in California . The exotic food and tropical cocktails were quickly popular, and resulted in a chain of restaurants, which later (along with their proprietor) became known as Trader Vic’s. (History is a little blurred as to which of the entrepreneurs first created the Mai Tai cocktail, but accounts seem to lean on the side of Don the Beachcomber.) A few years later, soldiers began returning home from World
War II with stories of exotic paradises in far-off lands.
Those romanticized recollections, coupled with the release
of the American movie “South Pacific” triggered an explosion
in Polynesian pop culture that continued through the 1950s,
1960s and 1970s, eclipsed only by the birth of disco culture. Four steps to a great TIKI party – any time of yearThe campy escapism that is typical Tiki makes it ideal for a fun, casual party. Try our four-step process to conjure up your own “island away from home.”
Décor – Of course, guests should be provided with leis when they arrive. Draping tables and your bar in grass skirts and string lights (keep the open flames and grass far away from each other) is a great touch. If it’s starting to look like the set of Gilligan’s Island, you’re probably on the right track. Lighting – Strings and strings of tiki-style patio lights, of course – the tackier, the better! Outdoor torches are great touches as well. Music -- There are lots of Tiki albums available now, so you shouldn’t have trouble finding them. A quick search under “Tiki” on www.amazon.com yields a good selection. A few ideas:
2. Serve fun, easy food
As with all casual parties where guests are likely to be mingling (probably with a drink in hand), plentiful finger food is the order of the day. Skewers, key to Tiki cuisine, are easy for guests to eat and even easier for you to prepare. A wide variety of meat (try Tropical Pork Kabobs LINK), veggie and fruit skewers can be prepared or bought ahead of time and grilled as needed. Serve dipping sauces in hollowed-out pineapples and melons.
3. Tiki Bar - make the cocktails part of the entertainmentHave a few blenders on hand and mix up some fun, frozen, rum-based concoctions. Plastic glassware works well, but hollowed-out coconuts and pineapples (if you’re feeling creative) are even better. Plastic or wood tiki mugs are great, too. And don’t forget the fancy umbrellas!
4. Have fun!Tacky Tiki culture inspires relaxation and the mood for fun, so be sure to have a few party games planned. Some suggestions:
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The
Tiki phenomenon can be traced back to the early 1930s, beginning
with the post-prohibition opening of a tropical-themed eatery
by Donn Beach , aka Don the Beachcomber. In addition to tropical
Asian cuisine and a big helping of colorful Polynesian culture,
he served up rum-based umbrella drinks, in large part because
of the cheaper availability of rum at the time, compared
with other spirits. 
A
few of our favourite tiki cocktails: 
